An analysis of language features in english advertisements

Chapter Six Conclusion
So far, we have analyzed the prominent language features of advertisements at three levels. Linguistic similarities analyzed in this paper and shared by all kinds of advertisements are shown as follows:

As to lexical features, nouns are widely used as brand names. They help to make the consumers remember the products or services and deliver the information very well. Monosyllabic and simple words, such as get, make, good and new, are often used. These short words can hit the goals in the shortest time. Compounds and coinages are invented constantly. Some of them are so successful that they are added to our modern English vocabulary.

As to syntactical features, simple statements are often used. Sentences in advertisements are short. On average, a sentence consists of 11.8 words. Some of the short sentences are elliptical sentences. Elliptical sentences are used to spare advertising cost and at the same time improve advertising effectiveness. Imperative sentences and interrogative sentences are common in advertisements. They make advertisements like dialogs and easy to be understood. And also exclamatory sentences, which are very emotive, are frequently used. They make the information that the advertisement wants to deliver seem more important. Sentence fragments have the unique value of emphasis and association. Thereby, the advertiser can encourage people to buy more efficiently.
As to rhetorical devices, smile and metaphor are used in advertisements to vividly highlight the characteristics or special features or functions of the advertised products or services. The effectiveness of personification in English advertisements lies in its potency of endowing products with emotion and liveliness. Puns make advertisements more meaningful and interesting while alliteration renders advertisements more effective and rhythmical. Through use of hyperbole, advertisements become effective, emotional and humorous. Repetition is often designed to make advertisements more attractive, impressive and memorable.
Last but not least, some features commonly appear in one advertisement together. Lexical and syntactical features are mixed in one advertisement, which can make it more appealing to the audience and persuade them to buy the product or use the service. For example:
Give your hair a touch of spring.
This advertisement is a short simple sentence. In this seven-word sentence three features, monosyllable words, imperative structure and pun, are used together. This advertisement assembles three streams of power to inspire people.
Think Once. Think twice. Think bike.
This advertisement’s purpose is to encourage people to use bike. This advertising slogan consists of three simple imperative sentences, where repetition occurs.

In short, no matter which structure and what words are used in an advertisement, all of them serve the purpose of attracting the audience, conveying information to them, urging them to purchase the product or to use the service. That is what an ad for, and that is also the function advertising language performs.